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Venezuelan Developers Are Using Bitcoin, Rare Pepe Trading Cards To Fight Against a Dismal Economy (cryptoinsider.com)
According to Crypto Insider, Venezuelan developers have been selling "rare pepes" -- trading cards that contain unique illustrations and photoshops of the character Pepe the Frog. While the trading cards started out as nothing more than a joke, many of them have been traded for thousands of dollars on the Counterparty platform, which is built on top of Bitcoin, and have provided a way for many developers to sustain themselves in Venezuela's poor economy. From the report: The basic idea behind the issuance of rare pepes on top of the Counterparty platform is that it enables scarcity in a digital world. Each rare pepe card is linked to a little bit of bitcoin through a practice known as coin coloring. Whoever owns the private keys associated with the address where the bitcoins that represent a specific rare pepe card is located is the one who owns that particular trading card. Now, a group of developers in Venezuela are building games similar to Hearthstone and Pokemon where the rare pepe trading cards will play an integral role. If you go to rarepepe.party right now, you're mainly presented with a video of what the first game based on the Rare Pepe digital trading cards will look like. The concept is similar to Hearthstone or Magic: The Gathering where players essentially do battle with their opponents via characters on trading cards, which have specific stats and features. In this case, the characters are various rare pepes. With many rare pepes already released (you can view them in the official rare pepe directory), the developers behind Rare Pepe Party are attempting to provide a use case for these new trading cards. While some rare pepe cards already have stats on them, the developer who chatted with Crypto Insider says those stats may not mean much when it's time to play the game. While rare pepes are nothing more than fun and games for much of the developed world, they're a matter of survival in Venezuela. "We're based in Venezuela, and our business has been saved by bitcoin many times," said the developer. The developer claims roughly 80 percent of the offices around the area where Rare Pepe Party is being developed have shut down over the past year. The biggest businesses on their street have also dropped as much as 90 percent of their employees.
This is a very interesting development, and use of the bitcoin/blockchain technology.
Hypothetically, it's difficult to collect works of art in media forms that are easy to copy. For example, it'd be hard to have a 500 print "limited edition, collectible" screensaver image.
But an artist could mint their own cryptocoin sell one with each registered copy of their work. The person who "owns" the official copy would keep the bitcoin safe, and be assured that only 500 of the limited edition versions were ever made. (Along with some security from the artist, publishing their crypto signature for provenance verification, and so on).
This wouldn't prevent people from copying or using the screensavers, but it could make certain forms collectible. This would eliminate counterfeiting in those forms.
The trading cards are just one example of this.
because communism is generally incapable of feeding itself
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
why the heck are they doing so bad?
Because, when oil prices were high, instead of saving for a rainy day, they squandered the windfall on import subsidies and giveaways while destroying every other part of their economy.
I'm not gonna chuck if up to gov't corruption because _everywhere_ has that.
Not to the same degree. On the Transparency International Corruption Index Venezula is a near rock bottom 166/176.
Did they piss everybody off somehow?
Yes, starting with their own people. Maduro is one of the least popular leaders in the world (although he beats President Hollande of France). Venezuela has few international friends. Even Cuba has backed off from helping them.
On the bright side, we have yet another excellent example of why socialism is a bad idea.
Their economy was almost entirely reliant on high oil prices. They never really tried to diversify their economy so when oil prices plunged so did their economy. On top of that their oil needs specialized refineries requiring them to send their oil to other countries to be refined. The main country providing refinery services are located in the US. At prices under $50 per bbl they are almost losing money on any oil they do manage to export. They also shot themselves in the foot trying to nationalize the assets of foreign oil services firms resulting in a huge decline of output and a cease in new projects being brought online. The one thing that can bring the wrath of the US government down hard is a country who tries to nationalize the assets of US companies. The most noteworthy examples of this can be seen in Iran, Cuba, and now Venezuela. And Venezuela has burnt all the bridges between them and the US. They can't ask the US for any help and even if they did the US wouldn't help them. The relationship is just to toxic.
The US now controls the global price of oil and natural gas. The US has been metering it's output just enough to make sure the prices stays under $50 bbl. At this price Venezuela's economy will not improve in the slightest. Russia is in the same boat. They are also over reliant on oil exports and are bleeding cash. The sanctions levied against them for their actions in the Ukraine have prevented any foreign investments in their oil industry leaving them with aging equipment and no new projects being brought online. Since the US can now export natural gas it becomes possible to supply all of the European countries and break Russia's monopoly.
The most successful countries in the world are socialist so it seems a strange statement. Norway has been rated the happiest country in the world with Denmark second. Both socialist.
Neither is socialist. Socialism: Government ownership of the means of production. Both Norway and Denmark are, by many measures, more capitalist than America. For instance, the Danish post office is privatized. If you at add in health care, America actually has a about the same government footprint as either. Social programs do not make a country "socialist".
Classifying Norway as socialist is a bit like classifying the USA as capitalist. Neither nation is fully socialist or capitalist -- they both have significant elements of capitalism and socialism -- but they differ in the amount by which they embrace, for example, socialism. Actually, I would argue that, while Norway is more socialist than the USA, it is nonetheless more capitalist than it is socialist.
Also, why is it that every time some nation tries to completely (or predominately) adopt socialism or it's more extreme cousin, communism, people always claim that it wasn't actually, really socialist (or communist) when that nation fails?
"Is not a sentence" is not a sentence. Well damn.
You did miss the last 100 years of history. In fact you just missed history in general.
Communism does not make the people the owners of the fruits of their labors, it makes the bureaucrats the owners of the fruits of people's labor. Straight from the manifesto you find 'from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs' People are incentivized to be lazy and complacent, and just yell about how much stuff they need. Working harder than your neighbor does not get you more stuff and inventing new technology does not get you new stuff. Those two things can make you an enemy of your neighbors and get you jailed or killed.
Both Russia and China moved to a controlled form of a market economy. Stealing technology was not enough to keep them afloat, so they had to do something to incentivize people. The partial market is still the suck for people that live there, because if you do too well you are killed and the Government just takes your stuff anyway.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
You did miss the last 100 years of history. In fact you just missed history in general.
Nope. I also attended philosophy class, and even read Marx, unlike some people, who just rant and rave as they have been indoctrinated to do.
Communism does not make the people the owners of the fruits of their labors, it makes the bureaucrats the owners of the fruits of people's labor.
You're thinking of a command economy, not communism.
Straight from the manifesto you find 'from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs' ,
Nope. You won't find it there at all. Try as you might, you can't.
You would have to look elsewhere in Marx's writings. Why do you make things up s.petry?
Besides, he didn't originate it, the sentiment came from elsewhere, and to be honest, it is just as applicable in any philosophy. Why would you not labor to your abilities? Why would you not act upon your needs?
There is a reason you can find this sentiment within the Bible as well as Confuscius. It is well known.
People are incentivized to be lazy and complacent, and just yell about how much stuff they need. Working harder than your neighbor does not get you more stuff and inventing new technology does not get you new stuff.
Actually, it is quite the opposite. By laboring, you can produce value, and own it yourself, not have it confiscated by a rent-seeker. There is no need to yell, there is no need to take, you own what you make. And you get what you need, without stealing from others.
Those two things can make you an enemy of your neighbors and get you jailed or killed.
Making enemies of your neighbors is easy. Sometimes earned, sometimes not. Sadly, this too has been known since biblical times.
Both Russia and China moved to a controlled form of a market economy. Stealing technology was not enough to keep them afloat, so they had to do something to incentivize people. The partial market is still the suck for people that live there, because if you do too well you are killed and the Government just takes your stuff anyway.
Both China and Russia remain corrupt, autocracies, with no tolerance for dissension or embracing of freedom. Yet they claimed to be Democratic Republics, and still do. Yet oppose their commands, and they will oppression you with violent force.
The exact opposite of communism. Anybody who studied history would know that.
Nobody will give a country loans without concessions and Chavez won't give any.
Kinda hard to do when you're dead.
What's happening in Venezuela is no Socialism, although they call it that, is not Communism, is plain old Fascism or tyranny of the state
You don't think socialism *is* tyranny of the state?
I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
The concept of socialism doesn't even require a government to exist...
Wow.
Communism/socialism demand a "command economy" as a basic tenant of their ideologies. They cannot function even as poorly as they do without control of the economy and the means of production and distribution.
Actually, it is quite the opposite. By laboring, you can produce value, and own it yourself, not have it confiscated by a rent-seeker. There is no need to yell, there is no need to take, you own what you make. And you get what you need, without stealing from others.
This is anathema to communism and socialism. The State determines all that. The State tells you what you will work at, where, how long, etc. It tells you where you'll live. It tells you how much compensation you'll receive and what you're allowed to buy/own.
OP was right. You missed 100+ years of history. If you actually did take a class, either the teacher/professor was incompetent or a good communist/socialist spreading false propaganda.
Or...*you* are the good communist/socialist spreading false propaganda.
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
This is glossed over too much. Part of the problem is that Venezuela implemented price controls on a lot of things including staples - price controls that in many cases are or were lower than the cost of producing those goods/crops. They then used oil money to subsidize imports, but local producers and farmers had no reason to produce because they were going to lose money, much like a saying that's been around in the USA for years ("Interviewer: 'What are you going to do with your lottery winnings?' Farmer: 'I reckon I'll just keep farming until it's gone.'")
Now that the oil money isn't there, neither are the basic production capabilities that would let them get back to being self-sustaining, and I suspect that even in places where you could go back to subsistence farming or even farming for sale it's very difficult to do due to looting and possibly remaining price controls. Venezuela's drowning, and even those trying to swim are being grabbed and pulled under by the desperate.
fencepost
just a little off